Another Deadly Spiral
by Gabriel. J. Owen
Summary: With a kid on the way Ichigo and Rukia are in no mood for Hollows, their prayers are answered in the form of a spunky new shinigami named Kai. PLEASE REVIEW!
1. A lifes light dies

Title: Another Deadly Spiral

Author Gabriel J Owen

Disclaimer: I do not own Bleach Or the Characters

Sorry if some of the characters seem OOC at first, but I hope you enjoy this first chapter of Another Deadly Spiral, comments, whether they be flames or compliments or suggestions for future chapters are welcome. Enjoy.

A Life Light Dies

Ichigo sighed, now twenty six he wasn't what he used to be. He was out shopping for the necessities, food, toiletries bath and shower gels and shampoos, and maybe if he felt like being romantic, a nice bottle of wine for dinner. He fumed inwardly at himself before smiling as he blamed Rukia (thank god she was at home), for making him soft. Then again, all of his past experiences from his younger life had made him realize just what it was he'd been fighting for… her. He'd busted into the Soul Society and risked his neck more than once just to bust her out. And as it were he ended up marrying her after the entire incident.

He slammed his head against the wall instinctively and received many concerned or confused glances from the other shoppers, which were adamantly ignored. "What a life I've made for myself, wrought by all that crap." He thudded his head against the wall once more for good measure and sighed. "I've gotta stop thinking about that though or it's gonna kill me." He walked up to the counter and without a second glance at the cashier (who seemed oddly familiar); he paid for his groceries and made to leave after taking his receipt. "Jeez, how long has it been Ichigo and you don't even say hi? I'm insulted."

Ichigo whirled around and gasped. "Tatsuki? Is that you, working at a convenience store?" He stifled a chuckle and then checked himself as he received a deadly glare from the hot headed female. "Sorry, but I just couldn't see you working at a convenience store… just wait 'til I tell Rukia 'bout this." He began to chuckle inwardly and another death look from Tatsuki didn't change this. It was no use; he was now laughing his head off as Tatsuki picked some lint off her shirt.

"Ichigo…" Her tone was deleterious and Ichigo immediately stopped laughing as if he'd never started. "You have about ten seconds to vacate the premises before you have an out of body experience!"

Although Ichigo had already had plenty of out of body experiences, he didn't like the idea of Tatsuki forcing him out… it would be far too painful. So, in about a split second he found himself in his car and speeding from the parking lot.

Kai sighed as he trudged through the park, the twenty four year old university senior had walked these pathways many a time but one thing always bothered him…

The Ghosts.

Everywhere he looked he would see them just floating or walking about, whether he looked left, right, forward, back, up, or down…

Down?

He growled at the pasty white transparent figure of a boy no more than ten as it tried to tie his shoe laces in a knot (as he was walking), with no avail. "Will you cut that out?" He yelled rather acidly.

Looking hurt the boy quickly retreated to a shadowy fence as Kai knelt down to retie his laces, properly. He glared up at the boy momentarily then smiled. "Every time, it never fails kid. One of these days you're going to get me good." He sat down on a bench and patted the place beside him. This seemed to cheer the boy right up, for he smiled and raced over to sit down beside Kai.

"You're really nice sometimes mister!" The young boy said happily. Kai stopped for a moment and sighed, it would look awful strange if someone came by and saw him talking to someone they couldn't see.

Kai then chuckled when he decided that he didn't care what people thought. "Sorry I snapped at you earlier, what's your name?"

The boy smiled at the question and answered quickly. "Kyo."

At that very moment there came a loud roar, a terrifying, bloodcurdling sound that chilled Kai to the very bone. He turned to look over his shoulder just as the boy pulled him rather harshly from the bench which was no longer there. Splinters from the benches many boards flew as they crashed back to the ground. Kai looked through the dust at a looming figure with horrible yellow eyes; those yellow eyes had black catlike slits and froze Kai to the spot. "Come here little boy and hold still… It will only hurt for a moment."

The creature began to chase the boy relentlessly, when it caught up it would throw him to the ground and then toss him further ahead. It was enjoying the torment… so much that when it finally came to the time when the boy could run no more, the creature was awfully disappointed. Kai had remained rooted to the spot the entire time, his courage eluded him, he could no more help himself than he could help the boy. He looked over at the creature, and when he took into account the child ghosts predicament, his rage suddenly flooded into him like a tidal wave, crashing through the very walls of his being and it had begun to take control of him. He ran towards the creature as it swooped down towards the boy and harnessing every ounce of strength he could muster, he swung his right foot into the creature's masked face. The creature reeled back in surprise and its mask cracked down the middle.

"Hunh?" The creature looked down at Kai who had taken up an offensive Jujitsu stance and growled. "You're strong… for a human."

"How do you get off on doing something like this? You've got a brain now use it…" Kai froze the creature to the spot with an acid glare, "and scram."

The creature laughed at this and sighed. "Humans, always so over confident in their own abilities," the creature hissed and loomed above Kai; its very breath caused Kai to almost gag. "Now, you'll die for that mistake!" It moved with lightning speed and bit into Kai's shoulder, if not for Kai's equally quick reflexes it would have bitten him in two. The pain was almost unbearable, but Kai bit back the pain and gripped the top and bottom of the creatures' jaws. Kai grimaced as he struggled to remove the creatures' jaws from his shoulders; but it had bitten in deep, and its hold was firm and unmovable. "You'll never budge my grip human! And even if you did, you'd die from my venom soon enough, then your soul will be mine!"

Kai soon realized that he was indeed poisoned, a warm sensation spread through his arm first and then crept into his chest, seizing his heart. His heart pounded as the venom mingled with his blood and began to spread to the other limbs of his body, it was squeezing his lungs and crushing his heart, making it very difficult, and almost impossible for him to breathe. For the first time Kai noticed how snakelike this creature really was, and for the first time in his life he wasn't thinking about his studies. He was going to die, but not before this creature felt his pain… ten fold.

Kai's arms strained as he forced open the creatures' massive jaws, dropped back from them, and drove his left foot this time into the creatures' forehead. This just made the creature angry, very angry. It coiled its massive body and prepared to strike, and its tail, not his head came forward and shot straight through Kai's already weakened body, straight through his heart.

Kai gasped, the pain was even worse than the poison. His body shook with pain and convulsed as the tail was withdrawn from his chest. A warm liquid rushed to the back of his throat and there came a cough from which the frothy crimson liquid came forth to stain the ground at Kai's feet. Surprise and pain conflicted in Kai's visage. Was this, the end? Kai fell to his knees and gathered his bearings, or tried to; for he was unsuccessful. He looked up through clouded vision at the creature, and muttered a curse as he collapsed to the ground, blood spread out from his wound and pooled around him, but he didn't care, why should he? People were standing around him, gazing down at him, trying to help him; but nothing worked. Their voices were barely a whisper now as his consciousness slipped into darkness and he stopped fighting, allowing himself to be taken in by that peaceful darkness.

Kai smiled to himself and sighed for the last time. "I wonder if I'll be avenged? I guess that's a little bit too much for a guy like me to ask for this day and age." He closed his eyes and the pitch blackness overtook him, and as his last breath escaped his lips, and his heart stopped beating, he thought one final thought… I'm gonna kill that damn thing.

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Authors note: I hope you enjoyed the first chapter, the second chapter will be out as soon as I finish writing it, as I said I am open to flames compliments and suggestions so go nutz!


	2. Otohime and the Zanpaktou

In this chapter I reveal two new characters, I was thinking about making Otohime a guy(with a guys name) but this is much more amusing, at least I thought so, I hope you do too. I also reveal the real Kai… Enjoy!

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Another Deadly Spiral

Chapter Two

Otohime and the Zanpaktou

_Falling… falling_… it seemed endless, he fell for ever as if there were no end to the black void. The only light was from the memoriesflashing before his eyes, and even this light was only in his mind; outside, all he could see was this all consuming darkness.

It was absolute.

He got so used to the darkness that when the fleeting memories stopped flashing and his feet stopped on solid nothingness that it startled him. He looked around, then he looked down, there was nothing supporting him, everything was that black void. Nothing held his feet in place; maybe I'm still falling, maybe I'm going insane. He shook his head and looked forward again into the pitch blackness of the void and shivered. He was alone, alone in the dark of his own being. It was because of this belief that when the slender young woman appeared only inches from his nose he jumped back and nearly lost his balance. Catching himself he glared as the girl giggled uncontrollably, it was madness! This was supposed to be his consciousness, where did this girl come from?

"Took you long enough," she said with a smile that just made Kai a little bit more frustrated. "I've only been waiting for three damn years!"

Kai cocked an eyebrow at the enthusiastic young woman and let out a slight cough. "Who are you? Get out of my head!" He paused at the young woman's expression and proceeded to scratch the back of his head. "I've… always wanted to say that."

"Right," she said with a hint if not a dousing of sarcasm. "You were always the weird one."

"I'm weird, I'm weird? Look at you little miss two piece… bead wearing…bikini…" He stopped for a moment as he looked her over and was only able to utter a single strangled word, "wow." She was beautiful; he was able to recognize this by actually taking time to look, she was indeed wearing something like a bikini with various blue beads hanging off the lower edges of the fine black fabric. He was soon at a loss for words and found himself staring awkwardly at the tanned female.

She looked at him amusedly and waved at him. "Hello… earth to Kai." She sighed as she failed to get his attention and shook her head. "Jeez, I never thought guys would be this shallow… I hope not all guys are like this."

As if hearing his name Kai started and looked at the woman as if he hadn't noticed her standing there. Then as if remembering the entire conversation (and taking offence where it's due), he looked at her in surprise and cried, "I am not shallow!"

She nodded, "Uh-Huh." She pointed at her chest and smiled coyly. "So you deny having stared at these for the past couple of minutes? I dare say you were so fixated by them that you lost the ability to speak." She chuckled slightly as Kai blushed to a deep shade of red and then stopped herself before he again took offence to her light hearted chuckles. "I am Otohime, I live here."

Kai stopped, and looking rather startled, he looked around. "I thought that this…" He made a motion to his surroundings and looked back at her, "was part of _me_."

Otohime nodded. "It is, I've been here since _you_ were born," she pointed an accusing finger at Kai and smiled. "I was there when you took your first steps, ate your first bite of baby food, spoke your first word, and even the first time you-"

"Okay! I get it alright, enough of that!" He blushed to an even deeper shade of red, making his face resemble an overripe tomato and looked at her sheepishly. "If what you say is true, then answer these." He pulled out a set of conveniently place cue cards and almost immediately he threw them away in fright. "Where'd those come from?" He cleared his throat and calmed himself after his out burst, and then, looking very serious he began. "What was my favourite baby food-"

"Pineapple,"

"First word,"

"Don't,"

"Favourite pastime,"

"Soccer,"

"Favourite saying,"

"I may not believe with a word you say but I'll defend to the death your right to say it."

"Brand of underwear," Kai waited a moment before he pointed an accusing finger at Otohime and let out a hearty, HA. "I got you! I must admit you did well on my test but you failed to get my final question."

"Fruit of the loom," Otohime answered with an abashed expression. (This time she was blushing.)

Kai froze, his arm dropped to his side and he studied her with a strange expression. "That's just creepy… don't do it again."

Otohime shrugged, "gladly." She looked over his shoulder and smiled. "Oh and there's one more person I think you should meet."

Kai sighed, when would this end, all this time he had another persons' soul inside of him… and what's more? There was another one too! He turned around and dodged a fist that was inexplicably flying straight at his face. "What the hell?" He caught the fist the next time and let his own fly in the direction of its owner, connecting with the nose of a winged man with light blonde hair and a failure in the gene pool that made him look like a girl. The mans nose shattered and dripped blood as he reeled back and looked at Kai in pained confusion.

"What was that for?" He nursed his broken nose and looked at Kai with a hurt expression. "Is that how you greet your Zanpaktou?"

This time is was Kai's turn to laugh. "Zanpaktou, what is that your name or your title?"

"My title…" He took his hand away from his nose and Kai noticed with disbelief that it was fully healed. "If I told you my name you'd have to promise me one thing." The man surveyed Kai with interest as Kai nodded. "You'll kill that Hollow… and avenge Otohime."

Kai stopped. "Wait a minute, that thing killed me, not Otohime."

"Wrong, you were living on borrowed time." The man explained. "Your chain of fate broke off three years ago when your brain functions stopped. Remember, the cancer?"

Kai did remember, all too well. The doctors said that they had tried to revive him for hours before he woke up suddenly, and all traces of the cancer had disappeared. His life had ended then only to come back to him in a rush of air, but he'd never experienced this then.

"When you died three years ago, I didn't let your spirit fly free because I couldn't bear to see you go." Otohime said.

"The life you were living was Otohime's borrowed time. Time she gave to you without a second thought, that Hollow killed Otohime, you… were already dead and long transformed into what we call… a Shinigami." The man smiled at Kai's angry reaction. "Now, do you promise to avenge her?"

Kai chuckled. "Sure."

Next chapter coming soon! I had so much fun writing this… I say it earns three chuckles out of five! I hope you like it. My next chapter is coming soon! REVENGE!!!


	3. Introduction to the Shinigami

Well here it is the third chapter to Another Deadly Spiral. Kai meets Rukia, (and saves her). Sorry it took so long to come out but, I had some family trouble a little while back and had to move out, so bear with me.

Another Deadly Spiral

Chapter Three

Introduction to a Shinigami

Kai thought to himself for a long time as he rocketed back upwards towards the light that would lead him back out of the chasm of his soul. Why was all this happening, had he really been living on borrowed time, what the hell was a Shinigami, and the one thing he wanted to know most of all was how much of him had Otohime really seen. It was too much for him to bear and he found himself shaking, he sighed. It was then that another question rose to his thoughts, what was a Hollow?

Byakuya looked at the body of the young man and then at the hollow. "I believe you've already eaten his soul, correct?"

The hollow laughed. "He hasn't even come out of that damn body of his, but I do want a taste of that kids' soul." The hollow laughed. "It would simply be too good to pass up."

Byakuya cringed in disgust and looked again at the young mans lifeless body. It was true, the man had been able to crack the Hollows mask with but a single kick; and he hadn't been bitten in two when the Hollow had actually tried to force his soul out. Byakuya drew his Zanpaktou, and then mumbled something to himself.

"So the pretty little Shinigami want to fight me eh?" The hollow laughed and coiled his snakelike body. "I welcome it, it shall serve as my dinner tonight, but you're only the appetizers."

Renji sighed. The soul society had been tracking this Hollow for some time now, and many a Shinigami had fallen to it, the fact that a human had been able to crack it's mask with one blow was truly shameful on their part. Renji drew his Zanpaktou and cursed at his horrible day. "I guess we got no choice but to fight this arrogant snake of a hollow."

"You want to fight Hollow?" The voice was calm in nature but they could here the anger and venomous tone in that voice that made their blood run cold, then they felt it; devastating spiritual pressure. It was literally weighing them to the ground, pulsing through the air like a heart pumps blood, and in perfect rhythm to one such heartbeat.

"What is this?" Byakuya wondered. "This spiritual pressure… it's getting stronger with each passing moment."

Renji looked over at Kai's previous body in shock; it was surrounded by a deep red glow and that glow was pulsating like a heartbeat. A bright light emanated from the center of the corpses back and Kai flew out, his ascent slowed to a stop above his body and he placed his feet down on either side of it. He was dressed in a Hakama and Gi, like a standard shinigami, and he didn't look amused, almost furious. Like a mirror image of Byakuyas' favourite facial expression.

His hand moved to his Zanpaktou and a smile broke the mould of his dull visage. "So, you're what they call a hollow?" Kai chuckled and the spiritual pressure intensified, making it difficult for Renji to stay standing. "I don't understand fully what's going on, but a friend of mine has asked me to avenge her death. And to do that, you've gotta die."

Renji stared at the Shinigami in shock and shook his head. "Impossible, he only died about 10 minutes ago. The transformation into a Shinigami takes at least three months!"

"Hey you over there," Kai said calmly. "Another thing… I've also been told that I died three years ago, but I'll get into the details later."

Renji looked up. "Already dead, how's that possible, you were just in a living body! That's no gigai!" Renji stood back up as the quicksilver finally turned his attention back to Kai.

"So you've finally come out?" The hollow mused, "Time to disappear!" The hollow shot its tail towards him, but this time Kai merely hopped over it. It slammed into a tree trunk and carried Kai's body away as well.

"My turn." Still floating in the air Kai tilted himself so that he was nearly horizontal, he pushed off an invisible wall and flew straight at said hollow. "I made a promise and not only that… I want to have my fun with you." He drew his Zanpaktou, which was really quite shiny, the handle was wrapped in a deep red cloth, almost the color of blood, and the blade glinted blue if you held it in the sun the right way. The blade was long, a good four feet, and it was so light that Kai nearly forgot he was holding it. He drew it back and swung it at the crack in the hollows mask, but the hollow easily avoided it.

"You're too slow!" The hollow hissed. "If you wish to see speed… I'll show you speed!"

Renji and Byakuya watched the spectacle in the utmost bewilderment. Renji couldn't believe what he was seeing and Byakuya was just having a hard time maintaining his all time favourite expression. They were witnessing mayhem… and they soon found it rather amusing, because Kai wouldn't stop insulting the Hollow. He called it names like mouse breath and then something totally out of place… he called it an overgrown lizard. But what really made them laugh was the Hollows reaction to all this.

"Come on you overgrown lizard… you said you'd show me speed." Kai smirked and brought his Zanpaktou behind him and tipped it so it was running horizontally across his

Back. He then drew his sheath from its place at his waist and brought it out at arms length directly in front of him and also tipped it horizontally. "Soul Scream Combative Stance."

The hollow stopped in its tracks and muttered something in his annoyance. Renji swore that it sounded something like, "I'm not a lizard."

"What's wrong? Did you realize that you're out of your league?" Kai stated accusingly. "Or did you just plain give up?"

The hollow roared and lunged forward; Kai broke his stance and used his Zanpaktou to stop the hollows jaws from closing over his lean frame. The pair slid back along the grass and came to a stop when Kai's back collided with the washroom building. Byakuya and Renji could see the snakelike tail writhing and flailing about as he tried to get past Kai's sword that was driven into the top of its mouth.

"Are we actually seeing this?" Renji asked Byakuya in an obvious state of shock.

Byakuya only nodded, he had succeeded in succumbing his look of stupefied shock, and had returned to his original state. "This truly is an interesting battle."

Kai grimaced as he tried to keep the hollow at bay. It was strong, too strong… and Kai began to feel the pressure building in his shoulders and neck as he strained; remaining conscious after hitting the wall was also a difficult task. He somehow managed however to throw the hollow away from him and regain his footing and his stance. 'Damn, why didn't Otohime tell me they were so strong?' He found it very difficult to breathe, his head was pounding and his back seriously hurt.

The hollow got back up but Kai was already flying straight at it, giving the Quicksilver no time to react. "What!"

"It's finished!" Kai growled, but just as he went to swing his Zanpaktou for the final blow something hit him from the side and he slammed into the trunk of a tree. He felt several of his ribs snap and the shock made his head spin and his vision blur. He coughed up a mouthful of a frothy red liquid and Kai looked at it in shock as it mingled with the soil beneath the now crimson blades of grass. 'Hey, aint I supposed to be dead? How come I still bleed?' He clenched his teeth and used his Zanpaktou to bring him to his feet. 'Why can't I beat this guy?'

The hollow lunged at him and Kai grimaced before dodging, 'Gotta run, I have to run!' He urged his legs to move and he ran into the streets, the quicksilver bringing up the rear. 'Damn it! I'm too weak, I can barely keep running.' His feet were protesting to his movement and his ribcage throbbed; yet the pain from his shattered ribs had dulled; this he noticed with great distaste, for pain had always been his strongest supporter.

All he could do was run and keep running until his lungs caved, either way he was in serious trouble. The tip of his Zanpaktous' blade dragged on the concrete behind him, dragging behind it a tail of tiny sparks.

"Stop running from your fate shinigami!" He heard the hollow cry out from some ways behind him, but he knew it was gaining on him. "You can't escape me!"

Kai looked behind him at the trail of sparks he was creating with his Zanpaktou and got a sudden idea. 'This'll throw him off.'

Kai stopped and turned around bringing his Zanpaktou behind him once again and dragging the tip along the ground, but the added pressure was creating a larger amount of sparks then from when he was running. He finally swung his sword upwards and the sparks flew into the Hollows eyes and blinded him. Kai took his chance and made to strike again but his ribs protested in the most painful way. 'Crap, I can't swing my Zanpaktou!' His arms shook due to the conflict going on inside his pained mind. 'How come I could swing it just now, but I can't swing when I really need to?' His mind willed him to swing and end this but at the same time it also didn't want it to hurt. 'God damn it you're such a baby!' He screamed inwardly at himself. 'End it now!' But he had lost his chance; the hollow had regained its sight and swatted him with its tail as if he were a fly. He flew back and crashed straight through the wall of the E-Mart, slamming through eight shelves and a few dividers, this action broke even more of his now brittle ribs and he also felt his left shoulder snap, but before long he rolled into the far wall where he finally came to a stop in a heap of flesh and rubble.

Rukia looked at the now unconscious shinigami and then at the shelves he had nearly obliterated. It hadn't quite occurred to her or Ichigo at that moment that there was a hollow outside the E-Mart. "Wow…" Rukia muttered. "Is he still alive?"

Ichigo shrugged. "If he is then I feel sorry for him cause that's probably gonna hurt when he wakes up." He shook his head before he finally realized the oddity of this situation. "Wait…"

"What?"

"A shinigami just flew through a wall…"

"Uh huh."

"This shinigami looks like he was in a fight…"

"Got ya…"

"What would a shinigami be fighting that would beat him up so badly?"

"Ah I see."

"You see? That's it!" Ichigo cried. "There's a freaking tough assed hollow outside and all you can say is, I SEE!"

Rukia looked up at him and frowned. "Hollow? Who said anything about a Hollow?"

Ichigo refrained from strangling his now pregnant wife and decided to growl instead. 'Does pregnancy really make women this spacey?'

But the cry from the hollow that was all too familiar was all it took to snap Rukia back to reality. She looked up at Ichigo and cried out. "Ichigo, it's a hollow!"

Ichigo nearly jumped out of his skin following Rukia's outburst and sighed as soon as he regained his bearings. 'Jeez I don't know what scares me more, the hollow or Rukia?"

"Stop…right…there…"

Ichigo and Rukia turned in unison and looked at the shinigami who had just stood up, blood ran down the side of his face and covered his left eye, and his hand was covering a particular part of his ribcage. "Huh? Dude you shouldn't be moving!"

"Shut up." He snapped drawing up his Zanpaktou again before slowly advancing towards the hole in the wall. "This freak… is mine."

"Hey Ichigo, he's just like you used to be." Rukia stated bluntly while taking the arm of her carrot topped husband. "Isn't that right?"

"Don't remind me." Ichigo sighed. 'That idiots gonna die.'

Kai fell up against a wall and barely dodged an acid spit ball. "The hell!" He grimaced, he could barely walk, but he wasn't prepared to swallow his words… yet. He propped his Zanpaktou up on his shoulder and let out a pained sigh. "Jeez… ran away already…" He chuckled slightly before he collapsed against the wall and slid slowly to his knees. "I'm gonna kill that Otohime… when I wake up… if I wake up… no… I'll still kill her." He fell forward and closed his eyes. "Damn."

Ichigo sighed and shook his head. "Come on Rukia… lets take him home and fix him up."

"Sure."


End file.
